Stone circle

This article is about the European Megalithic stone cir- The size and number of the stones varies from example
cles. For other uses, see Stone circle (disambiguation).
to example, and the circle shape can be an ellipse.
A stone circle is a monument of standing stones ar-

1 Dates and archaeology of European Megalithic stone circles

All experts agree that stone circles are of pre-Christian
date, but beyond that stone circles have proven dicult
to date accurately. Radiocarbon dating has produced a
wide range of dates at dierent sites. This is at least partly
due to an inadequacy of materials suitable for radiocarbon
dating that can be reliably obtained from the sites. The
diversity of radiocarbon evidence may also suggest that
stone circles were constructed over a very long period,
or were sometimes reconstructed at later dates. It is often not clear when building started. A further obstacle to
dating is that there are generally no other archaeological
artifacts associated with the stone circles. Traditional archaeological artifacts, such as pottery sherds, bones, etc.,
are not often found at the sites, and when found are frequently of a later date than the associated stone circle.

Swinside stone circle, in the Lake District, England.

ranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed in many parts of the world throughout history
for many dierent reasons. Outside of Europe, stone circles have also been erected, such as the 6300~6900 BCE
Atlit Yam in Israel and 3000~4000 BCE Gilgal Refaim
nearby, or the Bronze Age examples from Hong Kong.

The sites display no evidence of human dwelling, and

rarely encompass graves. This suggests that stone circles
were constructed for ceremonies (perhaps religious ceremonies) and were in use on ceremonial occasions only.
The type of ceremonies (if any) is entirely unknown. An
alternative hypothesis is that they were a form of amulet
or talisman, i.e., an entity acknowledging and appeasing
supposed spirits dwelling in nature, meaning that their
ceremonial use was secondary to their talismanic value,
or equal to it. The crudeness and variety of the stones
excludes the possibility that they had astronomical observation purposes of any precision. Sometimes a stone
circle is found in association with a burial pit or burial
chamber, but the great majority of these monuments have
no such association. A stone circle is an entirely dierent entity from a henge, and dierent also from an isolated monolith, yet sometimes these other types of ancient stone monuments are found in close proximity.

The best known tradition of stone circle construction occurred across the British Isles and Brittany in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with over 1000 examples
still surviving to this day, including famous examples like
Avebury, the Rollright Stones and Stonehenge. Another
prehistoric stone circle tradition occurred in southern
Scandinavia during the Iron Age, where they were built
to be mortuary monuments to the dead.

The earliest known circles were apparently erected

around ve thousand years ago during the Neolithic period and may have evolved from earlier burial mounds
which often covered timber or stone mortuary houses.
The suggestion that they may have evolved from earlier
burial mounds is undercut by the fact that, of the hundreds of Neolithic and Bronze Age circles that have been
identied, none are provably centered on a burial. That

Bryn Cader Faner, North Wales.

suggests religious context, the details of which are still 2.2

obscure.

DISTRIBUTION

Recumbent stone circle

During the Middle Neolithic (c. 37002500 BC) stone

circles began to appear in coastal and lowland areas towards the north of the United Kingdom. The Langdale
axe industry in the Lake District appears to have been
an important early centre for circle building, perhaps
because of its economic power. Many had closely set
stones, perhaps similar to the earth banks of henges,
others were made from unfounded boulders rather than
standing stones.
By the later Neolithic, stone circle construction had at- Easter Aquhorthies recumbent stone circle near Inverurie,
tained a greater precision and popularity. Rather than be- Aberdeenshire, Scotland
ing limited to coastal areas, they began to move inland and
their builders grew more ambitious, producing examples
of up to 400 m diameter in the case of the Outer Circle at Avebury. Most circles, however, measured around
25 m in diameter. Designs became more complex, with
double and triple ring designs appearing along with signicant regional variation. These monuments are often
classed separately as concentric stone circles.
The nal phase of stone circle construction took place in
the early to middle Bronze Age (c. 22001500 BC) and
saw the construction of numerous small circles which,
it has been suggested, were built by individual family
groups rather than the large numbers that monuments like
Avebury would have required.

Dunnideer recumbent stone circle near Insch, Aberdeenshire,

By 1500 BC stone circle construction had all but ceased. Scotland

It is thought that changing weather patterns led people
away from upland areas and that new religious thinking
Recumbent stone circles are a variation of the types of
led to dierent ways of marking life and death.
circle found throughout the British Isles and Brittany
with the recumbent type being peculiar to the north east
of Scotland, where there are 71 examples,[1] and south
west Ireland (Drombeg stone circle near Glandore and
Rosscarbery, Co. Cork). Recumbent stone circles date
2 Variants
back to approx 3000 BC.

2.1

Concentric stone circle

A concentric stone circle is a type of prehistoric monument consisting of a circular or oval arrangement of two
or more stone circles set within one another. They were in
use from the late Neolithic to the end of the early Bronze
Age and are found in England and Scotland.

A recumbent circle is formed principally of a ring of

stones, like all other stone circles; however, there is one,
large recumbent stone laid on its side, usually anked
by the two largest of the standing stones immediately on
either side. The stones are commonly graded in height
with the lowest stones being diametrically opposite to the
tall ankers. It is not uncommon for the circle to contain a ring cairn and cremation remains. The recumbent
stone typically lies between the SSE and SW points of the
circle.[2] It is thought that this conguration was used for
lunar observations; however such an alignment also coincides with the Winter Solstice Sunset. These circles are
usually in good farmland, near hill-tops.

Connected features at some sites include central mounds,

outlying standing stones, avenues or circular banks on
which the stones are set. Burials have been found at
all excavated concentric stone circles both inhumations
and urned or unurned cremations. A funerary purpose is
thought likely, especially by Burl who sees the Cumbrian
sites as being analogous to the kerbs that surround some
chamber tombs and cobble pavements have been found in 3 Distribution
the centre of many examples. Alternatively, they may be
skeuomorphs of earlier timber circle sites rebuilt in stone, Further information: List of stone circles
especially the examples in Wessex.

3.3

Continental Atlantic Europe

Megalithic monuments are found in especially great num- The largest stone circle in Britain is at Avebury, the secber on the European Atlantic fringe, with stone circles ond largest stone circle is the Great Circle at Stanton
particularly common in the British Isles.[3]
Drew stone circles, and the Ring of Brodgar contains the
third largest stone circle in Britain.

3.1

Americas
3.3 Continental Atlantic Europe

Archaeology of the Americas shows a stone circle in

Burnt Hill, Massachusetts, USA.
On the European continent, there are several examples in
Brittany: two on the island of Er Lannic and two more
suggested at Carnac. The Petit Saint Bernard circle lies
3.2 British Isles
further aeld, in the French Alps. They are also known as
harrespil in the Basque country, where villagers call them
Main article: Stone circles in the British Isles and Brit- mairu-baratz or jentil-baratz that means pagan garden
tany
(cemetery)", referring to mythologic giants of the preThere are approximately 1,300 stone circles in Britain Christian era.

3.4 Horn of Africa

Ancient stone circles are found throughout the Horn of
Africa. Booco in northeastern Somalia contains a number of such old structures. Small stone circles here surround two enclosed platform monuments, which are set
together. The circles of stone are believed to mark associated graves.[5]

Drombeg stone circle - County Cork, Ireland.

At Emba Darho in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands,

two kinds of megalithic circles are found. The rst type
consists of single stone circles, whereas the second type
comprises an inner circle enclosed within a larger circle
(i.e. double stone circles).[6]

4 Post-megalithic and other

Further information: Stone circle (disambiguation)
In Scandinavia a tradition existed of making stone circles during the Iron Age. Characteristic especially of
Gtaland, the appearance of these circles in northern
Poland is traditionally taken as evidence of the Goths' migration (see Stone Circle (Iron Age) and Wielbark Culture).
Stone circle at the Carrigagulla complex, County Cork, Ireland

and Ireland.[4] The French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Mohen in his book Le Monde des Megalithes says: British
Isles megalithism is outstanding in the abundance of
standing stones, and the variety of circular architectural
complexes of which they formed a part...strikingly original, they have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe
strongly supporting the argument that the builders were
independent.

There was a separate period of stone circle building from

the eighth to the twelfth century in West Africa. The
best known are the Senegambian stone circles, built as
funerary monuments, with more than a thousand known.
Other stone circles can be found on the Adrar Plateau in
Mauritania.

A stone semicircle, comprising seven 600-kilogram megaliths, has been discovered in the drowned neolithic village of Atlit Yam in the Mediterranean Sea about 1 kilometre o the shore of the Israeli city of Haifa. The stones
Often oriented on sight lines for the rising or setting sun, had cupmarks carved into them and were arranged around
it is possible that, for their builders, the cycle of seasons a freshwater spring, which suggests they may have been
used for a water ritual.[7]
was very important.

EXTERNAL LINKS

Megalithic stone circles are also found in Hong Kong;

see Stone Circles (Hong Kong).

[2] Alex Whitaker. Recumbent Stone Circles.. Ancientwisdom.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2014.

Megalithic stone circles have also been discovered in

the village of Shewa, Swabi in Pakistan.

[3] Aubrey Burl. "The Megalith Map". Retrieved 2006-0922.

Further reading
Joanne Parker (editor), Written On Stone: The Cultural Reception of British Prehistoric Monuments
(Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 2009). ISBN 14438-1338-9
Ronald E. Hicks. Henges and stone circles, ritual
and archaeoastronomy: archaeological research in
Ireland and Great Britain. 1981.

See also

[4] Burl, Aubrey (2000). The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland

and Brittany. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 5.
[5] Somali Studies International Association, Hussein Mohamed Adam, Charles Lee Geshekter (ed.) (1992). The
Proceedings of the First International Congress of Somali
Studies. Scholars Press. pp. 37 & 40. ISBN 0891306587.
Retrieved 9 November 2014.
[6] Universitt Hamburg.
Institut fr Afrikanistik und
Ahiopistik (2004). Aethiopica: International Journal of
Ethiopian Studies, Volumes 7-8. Harrassowitz Verlag. p.
27. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
[7] Marchant, Jo (25 November 2009). Deep Secrets: AtlitYam, Israel. New Scientist (Reed Business Information
Ltd.) (2736): 40, 41. ISSN 0262-4079. Retrieved 28
November 2009.

7.2 Bibliography
7.2.1 Academic Books

The Castlerigg stone circle is thought to date from the Bronze Age.

Megalith
Megalithic architectural elements
List of megalithic sites
List of Stone Age art
List of stone circles
Standing stone
Stone row
Cromlech

Burl, Aubrey (2000). The Stone Circles of Britain,

Ireland and Brittany. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08347-7.
Bradley, Richard (1998). The Signicance of Monuments: On the Shaping of Human Experience in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe. London: Routledge.
ISBN 978-0-415-15204-4.
Childe, V. Gordon (1947). Prehistoric Communities
of the British Isles (second edition). Glasgow and
London: Gilmour & Dean Ltd.
Thomas, Julian (1999). Understanding the Neolithic.
London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-20767-6.

8 External links

Stone circle (Iron Age)

Beagmore Stone Circles, Sperrin Mountains, Ireland

Aboriginal stone arrangement

Cairnpapple, West Lothian, Scotland

Dark Isle - Stone Circles and Cairns of Scotland

7
7.1

References
Footnotes

[1] Welfare, Adam (2011). Great Crowns of Stone: The

Recumbent Stone Circles of Scotland (PDF). Edinburgh:
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. p. 271.

Drombeg Stone Circle in Ireland

Interactive map of megalithic monuments in Europe.
The Megalith Map
Dolmens, Menhirs & Stone Circles in the South of
France

5
Stone Circles in the South of France
Pretanic World - Megaliths and Monuments
Stone circles of The Gambia
Shap stone circles and standing stones
Standingwithstones.com

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

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9.2

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9.3

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